Forty Books Compete for the Eduardo León Jimenes National Book Fair 2009 Prize

A total of 40 Dominican books are competing for this year’s Eduardo León Jimenes National Book Fair Prize. There is a long list of literary entries in which some of the best local writers are prominent.  

 “This prize is a recognition and stimulus for Dominican writers. For that reason, the León Jimenes Group attracts the participation of local writers of significance and value….”

This year’s books cover many different topics: literary, historical, research and didactic studies and represent some of the best Dominican authors of the day. The jury, comprised of well-known intellectuals such as Manuel Salvador Gautier, José Manuel Guzmán Ibarra and José Mármol, will choose one winner among the many contestants to receive the award that carries a cash prize of 450,000 pesos and an official certificate.     

The awards ceremony is scheduled for Sunday April 23 at the XII International Book Fair of Santo Domingo 2009.

The variety and quality of those competing for the award this year demonstrates the importance and interest this prize awakens in Dominican writers in recent years.
 
“This prize is a recognition and stimulus for Dominican writers. For that reason, the León Jimenes Group attracts the participation of local writers of significance and value. The León Jimenes Group is once again offering this prize with the firm goal of supporting literary creations as well as contributing to the development of consciousness, the capacity for analysis and the oral and written expression of our people,” said Teodoro Hidalgo, Director of Corporate Affairs of the León Jimenes Group.

Last year, writer Juan Daniel Balcácer won the prize for the book “Trujillo: The Tyrannicide of 1961.” Before him, a long list of Dominican intellectuals went home with the award, including Marcio Veloz Maggiolo for “Trujillo, Villa Francisca and Other Ghosts” in 1997; Amadeo Julián the following year for “Banks, Ingenuity and Slaves in Colonial Era”; Manuel Rueda with “The Metamorphosis of Makandal” in 1999; Bernardo Vega with “The United States and Trujillo: The Final Days 1960-1961” and Miguel Guerrero with his book “On the Verge of Chaos,” won in the year 2000.

In 2001, “The Motives of the Machete” by José Miguel Soto Jiménez was recognized with the prize. Following is a list of other winners and their books: “The Decline of the Dominican Nation” by Manuel Núñez, in 2002; “Annotated Work Code” by Lupo Hernández Rueda, in 2003; “Merengue: Music and Dance of the Dominican Republic” by Catana Pérez de Cuello and Rafael Solano, in 2004 and “How the Americans Helped Balaguer into Power in 1996” by Bernardo Vega, in 2005. In 2006, the young writer, Edwin Espinal won the prize for his “Social History of Santiago 1863-1900.” Jeannette Miller won in 2007 with the book “The Importance of Historic Context in the Development of Dominican Art: Chronology of Dominican Art: 1844-2005”.